I haven't used Virtual memory,aka pagefile or swap file, for years. It was needed when RAM was 4 MB (megabyte not gigabyte) but isn't needed anymore with computers having 4 to 16 GB of very fast RAM.

some amazingly angry people on the internet on this subject, along with wildly differing conclusions between none and 1x memory for large memory footprints (and even more for lower ones) I've gone without, but the hedge bet is leaving a tiny 1-4G one in case a rare write is attempted.

My Windows 7 system has run with NO page file ever since I installed it in 2009. I've had zero problems with it. You do not need a page file if you have enough memory. The key is to understand the virtual memory requirements of the applications you run.

Windows 7 does not crash if you run out of memory. It does exactly the same thing with no page file as it does if you have a page file and still exceed it's maximum size - it displays a message indicating that the system reached it's commit limit, shows you the program that is consuming the most memory, and offers to kill it for you. If you kill the program, the rest of the system carries on its merry way with no ill effects whatsoever.

Page files were necessary when RAM was so expensive that you couldn't afford enough of it to hold all your programs. RAM is dirt cheap these days and 64-bit OSes have removed the technical limitations of the past. As far as I'm concerned if you're buying a high performance system it really doesn't make any sense to shortchange yourself on RAM to the point where you think you might need a page file "just in case".